DIY Target Retrieval

I have a private outdoor range in the country (no electricity near for ~1/4 mile), and I'd like to build a poor man's target retrieval set-up.

Does anyone have any ideas that could help get me started? Maybe a link to guide on this very topic or something? I haven't turned up much after lots of Googling.

I was thinking about trying to rig up something with a bicycle frame & gears to manually crank the target back and forth or maybe purchasing a 12V motor and car battery to do it, but I've never done anything like this before, so I'm not sure of what materials I might need.

Second option, have children and get them involved. My eleven year old is happy to run across the often muddy area on our property to replace targets if he gets to shoot the first round.

I have a rig that fits in a pickup bed and allows me to hang several targets. at once. Steel swinging plates are also great fun with a 22 or small to medium handgun calibers once you get bored of putting holes in paper. Just paint the 22 set different than the other set. My last one got destroyed by me hitting the wrong target.

As others have said, just hoof it...unless this is just an exercise in engineering. Some of mine are 200 yards out and I have to cross a sometimes muddy irrigation ditch. It really isn't that bad.

Nushif

June 23, 2010, 12:30 PM

Yup. LTCs are great tools, but I figure it's for those damn rainy days that you don't wanna leave your hutch on.
And for that the rope and bicycle rim sounds like a great idea.

Boba Fett

June 23, 2010, 12:35 PM

Wouldn't a simple garage door system work? Modified of course for distance and such...

zootsuit002

June 23, 2010, 01:10 PM

A Unicycle rim on one end of a bicycle rim system would provide a more elegant propulsion system while balancing simplicity (oddly very closely related to likelihood that it will not break down) with functionality and aesthetic value.

heron

June 23, 2010, 01:21 PM

Unicycle Rim Or, cheaper and easier to find, the front fork off a kid's tricycle.

Jolly Rogers

June 23, 2010, 01:27 PM

Whoa Whoa Whoa...pro-gigantic-beergut people

that describes me perfectly. :uhoh:
Joe

blutarsky

June 23, 2010, 01:30 PM

you can always get a clothesline pulley kit -- very affordable, and almost perfectly suited to just this sort of thing.

boatme99

June 23, 2010, 01:57 PM

Just like the old clothesline.
If your'e too young to rember them, just watch an old movie on TCM. Anything based in a city always had an exterior shot of some babushka reeling in the old mans longjohns. :D

Claude Clay

June 23, 2010, 02:02 PM

i feed & water the kids;
besides mowing the lawn, target retrieval is another use for them

Jumping Frog

June 23, 2010, 03:07 PM

Wouldn't a simple garage door system work? Modified of course for distance and such...

I have a private outdoor range in the country (no electricity near for ~1/4 mile)

And modified for lack of electrical power?

BRad704

June 23, 2010, 03:22 PM

I think everyone's on the right track with either walking, or bicycle gears/wheels... The gearing system would make it easier to move the target out there faster with less effort on your part...

Boba Fett

June 23, 2010, 03:37 PM

And modified for lack of electrical power?

I was thinking about trying to rig up something with a bicycle frame & gears to manually crank the target back and forth or maybe purchasing a 12V motor and car battery to do it, but I've never done anything like this before, so I'm not sure of what materials I might need.

That should work. I'm not an electrician, but to the best of my knowledge, there should be a way to setup a car battery to power a garage door motor system.

oneounceload

June 23, 2010, 04:55 PM

You could always take two pieces of "C" channel and get an RC car. make the car run inside the channels upside down with the target attached to something hanging down off the car (friend made something like this for his indoor range)

Boba Fett

June 23, 2010, 04:59 PM

You could always take two pieces of "C" channel and get an RC car. make the car run inside the channels upside down with the target attached to something hanging down off the car (friend made something like this for his indoor range)
Now that is a pretty nifty idea! http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif

Smeg

June 23, 2010, 05:08 PM

1) If you consider walking out 10-20 yards to set up and retrieve targets "exercise", you may want to re-evaluate your lifestyle choices :).

2) It's not cuz I need to. It's cuz I want to. One man's waste of time is another's idea of fun.

3) I'm lovin the RC car idea. Would you be able to get me a little more info? How far does it go out? What does it look like?

The Lone Haranguer

June 23, 2010, 08:03 PM

An overhead pulley and cable system like you see in indoor ranges is not going to work well outdoors, even if you wanted to go to the trouble of rigging support pylons, clothesline/wire and pulleys. The slightest breeze will set your target swinging about wildly.

oneounceload

June 23, 2010, 10:25 PM

Smeg - my buddy's underground range is 50 yards long and is inside an 8' galvanized culvert buried, so his channel is attached to the upper side of the culvert. But, if you could make a free-standing frame, I suppose it could go as far as the range of the RC car - he has a VERY light target frame (since he has no wind to consider) that hangs down about 2 feet so his odds of hitting his car is slim.

Picture the channels like this: [ ] with the wheels running on the inside - he can run his target out to any distance of his 50 yard range - it is VERY fast - he had to build stops on either end since he isn't a typical 8 year old who can handle that remote well - the car came off the track a few times! :D

Really a cool setup - I imagine you could something similar with a clothes line and a motor of sorts for even longer ranges.....

Smeg

June 24, 2010, 10:19 AM

An overhead pulley and cable system like you see in indoor ranges is not going to work well outdoors, even if you wanted to go to the trouble of rigging support pylons, clothesline/wire and pulleys. The slightest breeze will set your target swinging about wildly.

That is an excellent point. I had wondered about how to compensate for the wind, but I thought I might be able to fight through it once I started building it. This could be a really difficult obstacle to overcome. Any ideas?

Smeg - my buddy's underground range is 50 yards long and is inside an 8' galvanized culvert buried, so his channel is attached to the upper side of the culvert. But, if you could make a free-standing frame, I suppose it could go as far as the range of the RC car - he has a VERY light target frame (since he has no wind to consider) that hangs down about 2 feet so his odds of hitting his car is slim.

Picture the channels like this: [ ] with the wheels running on the inside - he can run his target out to any distance of his 50 yard range - it is VERY fast - he had to build stops on either end since he isn't a typical 8 year old who can handle that remote well - the car came off the track a few times!

Really a cool setup - I imagine you could something similar with a clothes line and a motor of sorts for even longer ranges.....

I'm wondering if there might be a way to make this work on a track on the ground holding the target frame instead of anything overhead. Thanks for the info.

BeerSleeper

June 24, 2010, 10:31 AM

Automatic retrieval isn't practical if shooting at rifle ranges, and just hard to see it necessary if shooting at pistol ranges. I don't like the automatic retrieval system at my local indoor range...the target zips out fast enough, but takes 10 minutes to stop bouncing. Nothing beats a paper target firmly stapled to a plywood that isn't going anywhere.

My outdoor range has a piece of plywood big enough to hold 5 8-1/2"x11" paper targets (6 if I crowd them a bit), so I only have to walk to the target board every 5 or 6 targets. I'd feel lazy having it set up that way, but it's about a half mile walk to get there in the first place.

jmorris

June 24, 2010, 10:44 AM

I assumed we were talking about long range but some of the suggestions sound a lot like my portable running man target that I built from an old cordless drill and a boat winch.

The longer the run, the more any ropes or cables are going to sag and the stronger the supports you'll need at each end will need to be. The longer the run the less practical it will be to set up a suspended system.

How about a bicycle that you leave covered with a tarp and locked up at your range to get you back and forth? You can add a basket or rack big enough to carry your targets, etc.

Smeg

June 24, 2010, 03:38 PM

jmorris, that is awesome. How do you get it to switch directions?

*And what I mean is, how did it switch directions automatically when it reached the end? Is there something pushing the little switch on the drill (the one that changes it from clockwise rotation to counter-clockwise rotation)?

yeti

June 24, 2010, 04:03 PM

Why not build/buy a big RC transport and drive your targets in and out, you would then have a moving target platform too.

wishin

June 24, 2010, 05:09 PM

Go to the local day labor pickup point and hire a retriever!:evil:

jmorris

June 24, 2010, 06:28 PM

jmorris, that is awesome. How do you get it to switch directions?

If you watch the bottom video you will see the little nylon stops on the string hit the spring loaded swtich lever QPQT swtich reverses the motor. I had to have the springs so it had a range to stop when running fast. The other swtich at the bottom left makes the target stop on the right side, left side or both sides between being triggered it works off the two limit swtiches at the bottom (with the light blue flag connectors.

Rembrandt

June 24, 2010, 07:06 PM

Made a couple of these for crossing a river on our farm, but it could be easily adapted as a targets retrieval system. A little fabrication skill and some hardware you'll be in business. Distance on these are about 125' long.